Text description provided by the architects. The Gary Tatintsian Gallery, which opened in Moscow in 2005, after its founder moved to Russia, has acquired new premises, which are developed by the design bureau, SPEECH. In his work, the gallery owner emphasizes new art media formats, as well as photography and conceptual design, with clear allusions to the ideas, forms of constructivism, and the avant-garde of the last century. The interior of the new gallery was created with regard to and under the influence of these art and architecture trends.
The gallery occupies the whole ground floor in the Art House complex on the Yauza. The floor area (875.77 m²) accommodated three spacious exhibition halls (and another 180.44 m² hall in the basement), and a working area for gallery personnel with a small bar and compact apartments for arriving supervisors.
The gallery is based on a corridor system, which is a variation of free community home designs by legendary Russian avant-grade architects M. Ginzburg, I. Nikolayev and others. Along one of the facades on the side of the main gallery entrance, there is a long corridor passing into three main exhibition halls. Opposite the entrance, there is a bar counter and a reception desk with a small office behind a glass partition followed by another spacious hall. This arrangement allows for functional zoning based on a well-thought system of interrelations, and allows for the flow of visitors so as to ensure that their movement allows room for large-scale works of modern art.
The scale and spaciousness of the gallery rooms are enhanced by massive partitions that divide adjoining spaces. Broad niches and ledges in conjunction with a concrete floor (reinforced corundum covering "Sikafloor") and ceiling add brutality to the interior which is so characteristic of modern galleries located in former industrial buildings in western Chelsea during the late 1990s, at the dawn of its formation as a New-York's center of modern art. In addition to the associative and exhibitive role, the partitions also play a technical function – they conceal ventilation systems ensuring an optimum micro-climate in the gallery.
The white color of the walls softens the excessive roughness of concrete surfaces. In combination with light, silver and natural, penetrating through huge windows, and sharp and artificial light coming from the suspended systems mounted on the ceiling, white walls create a bit of a surrealistic atmosphere for the artistic space emphasizing the radical design of objects and installations presented in gallery halls.
Even the interior items and office furniture acquire the character and quality of art objects. Black and white wardrobes, chairs and tables, sofas and armchairs fit perfectly in the monochrome interior, adding graphics and drive.